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My Alpha brothers say ‘No’ to Arizona

I confess no small measure of pride that Alpha Phi Alpha, my beloved fraternity, dared to take a noble stand last week when it announced plans to move our annual meeting out of Phoenix, Arizona.

Outraged by the state’s passage of legislation that gives local law enforcement officials license to racial profile U.S. citizens, the Alphas board of directors agreed to relocate the gathering to Las Vegas.

“Late Thursday, April 29, our national Board of Directors voted unanimously to rescind the location of Phoenix, Arizona as our meeting location of the 104th Anniversary/90th General Convention in July, and to denounce the egregious immigration act signed recently by the governor of Arizona.,” said Herman “Skip” Mason, the fraternity’s national general president.

I’m proud because, yes, I’m an Alpha Man. All too often, I’m forced to defend my membership in a black Greek organization. For some, fraternities smack of elitism and exclusion from the reality of black people’s struggles in America. I know better. History informs that black fraternal organizations were not only among the organizing leadership of the Civil Rights Movement, but its membership of so-called “talented tenth” helped comprise the foot soldiers who marched toward black progress in the middle of the last century.

Of course, that’s ancient history. By taking this bold stand against injustice toward our Latino brothers and sisters in Arizona, the Alphas provide contemporary evidence that black fraternities and sororities can, if they choose to do so, have a positive and leading role in the ongoing struggle for equal rights in America. The Alpha’s actions demonstrate that love of all mankind is a part of our legacy.

What’s more, I’m also elated that my fraternity took this courageous stand at great risk and expense to the fraternity. By one reliable estimate, the relocation of the convention will cost the fraternity up to $500,000. That’s a princely sum that could very well bankrupt the organization. While some individual Alphas are among the wealthiest people in the world, the fraternity itself isn’t endowed enough to sustain a half-million dollar hit.

The decision, however, was one made on moral grounds, not fiscal prudence. If it had been otherwise, the Alphas would have proceeded with the convention and, perhaps, made some demonstration or issued some statement while in Phoenix. Even so, drawing attention to the Alpha’s disgust over the hateful legislation while spending thousands in Arizona would have been a hollow move. The state would have still profited from the money left in the wake of some 3,000 Alphas expected to attend the convention and an estimated 10,000 others expected to participate in a Summit on the African-American Male that would have coincided with the convention.

“It was the full opinion of the board that we could not host a meeting in a state that has sanctioned a law which we believe will lead to racial profiling and discrimination, and a law that could put the civil rights and the very dignity of our members at risk during their stay in Phoenix Arizona,” Mason said in his statement announcing the decision.

Part of the thinking behind the decision stemmed from another Alpha-supported boycott of Arizona to protest the state’s tardy embrace of the national holiday to commemorate the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Dr. King is one of the many notable black Americans who have belonged to the fraternity.

“Our late Alpha brother the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, in a letter he wrote while sitting in the Birmingham Jail, ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ Alpha Phi Alpha’s decision to boycott Arizona continues that same fight, fought during the Civil Rights era,” said Mason. “We will not only speak with our voices and our feet, we will speak with our economic clout; and we will not spend our money in Arizona and urge other organizations and people who believe in equality under the law, to do the same.”

I have never been prouder to sport Alpha colors – the Old Gold and Black – than I am at this moment.